(Radio Iowa) – More than 20-thousand-500 F-F-A members in Iowa are marking the accomplishments of ag education as part of National F-F-A Week. Webster City High School student Megan Van Deer says she loves working with animals. “I want to go to school for veterinary,” Van Deer says, “and so just being part of the FFA program kind of helped me get more interested and stay along with it.”

Bridge Berninghaus joined the same Webster City F-F-A chapter for a host of reasons. “I think it’s a great program to get involved in,” Berninghaus says. “You get to meet new people, help others in the community, build more leadership, and have a great time.” Alyson McCarty is a vocational agriculture instructor at Webster City High School. In her native Connecticut, the F-F-A program varies from the one in Iowa, with much less emphasis on corn, soybeans, hogs and cattle.

“We have kids that are growing fish in their high school classrooms or looking at forestry, pine trees, cut flowers in greenhouses,” McCarty says. “It looks a little bit different, but they’re still learning the same: leadership, communication, all those skills.”

There are over one-million F-F-A members nationwide. The organization was started in 1928 to introduce youth to agriculture in the classroom. Members, in their blue jackets, are involved from grapefruit sales during the holidays, participating at county fairs, and driving tractors and farm machinery from their farm homes to their classrooms.